Brothers
by Lore Alexian
Summary: AU Story. If the village had been looking at the closest hill that dawn, they would have seen a beautiful sun rise, lush green grass covered lightly in dew, a few birds and three boys laying in their own blood.


**Hi, this is Factious Intelligence. I was previously known as T.A.S XD and before that was CameoLinchart. I know, I change PenNames a lot, but it's because I can't decide on one. Anyway, this is my second story. THOSE OF SIDH is currently being rewritten because my laptop crashed soon after I uploaded the first chapter.**

**I would kindly ask for _no flaming_. I don't write to please, I write because that's what I like to do. Most of my stories are literally just word vomits on a page. This story is AU.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own .**

If the village had been looking at the closest hill that dawn, they would have seen a beautiful sun rise, lush green grass covered lightly in dew, a few birds and three boys laying in their own blood.

Since it was too early for anyone to actually be awake, the three boys lay there, panting, bleeding. The one with his waist length hair tied back in a ponytail looked up and saw the village he had failed to see last night. He groaned as he eased his aching body off of the hard, cold ground. He stood there facing the rising sun as it ever so slowly warmed up his limbs and unknotted his muscles.

He heard a rustling and looked down. He saw that one of the younger kids had shifted closer to his feet. He couldn't help but smile slightly. He loved the boy. He looked over at the second boy who was on the other side of him. He looked so innocent when he slept.

The boy decided to wait an hour before waking the two younger boys.

They needed the sleep.

The shopkeeper was just opening up his shop to start the day when he saw, in the distance, three small children run into an alley. He was concerned for what he saw and hoped he was imagining seeing what he had seen.

"Moa! I'm going to go out for a second!" he shouted to his wife.

"Charles! You need to open up shop!"

"Just for a second!"

Charles quickly opened the door and jogged to the opposing alleyway. He could hear scuffling and protests. He walked in slowly, not wanting to scare whoever was in the alleyway. Suddenly the alley went silent as he tripped over a can. Cursing himself on the inside, he continued into the alley to find it completely empty. That didn't throw him off though, so he starting looking for the owners of the protests he had heard. A minute later, he heard a sneeze come from behind him. Confused he turned and pinpointed the location of the sneeze. He moved back to the pile of garbage and noticed a thin space between two of the buildings. He looked up into a dark pair of eyes. Charles jumped back, not excepting the owner to pounce on him.

"Get out of here!" the person ordered as they held Charles down.

Charles could vaguely see red, black and white come out of the crevice. He was too busy with his attacker to really take in the details.

He turned all his attention to the person on top of him; he grabbed the person's wrist. He noticed how skinny the wrist was as he grappled the person onto their back. After several attempts, he was finally successful in trapping the attacker on their back. He looked down and saw the raging eyes of what looked like a twelve year old. The twelve year old had long black hair that looked tangled and matted. The child struggled under Charles until he decided to pick up the wriggling kid. Charles shouldered the kid and he could feel the tiny pounding fists on his back.

"Let…me…go…you…bastard!" the child grunted.

"Watch your language! How old are you?" Charles demanded.

"Che. As if I would tell you!"

Charles started to walk out of the alleyway when he was confronted by two small shadows at the end. He squinted his eyes to vaguely see the other two he had seen escape the shadows of the alley. He wasn't sure though, they had drawn hoods.

"Sir, do you mind putting him down?" one of them said. Charles wasn't sure which one.

"I thought I told you two to run away!" the shouldered child screamed in rage.

"We won't leave you, Bakanda! Or Moyashi won't," the same faceless voice said.

"MOYASHI!" the hostile child raged.

The smaller of the two hooded children shrunk back.

Charles sighed. "I'm sorry. I just want to know why you three are in an alleyway."

"Like we'd tell you!" 'Bakanda' yelled again.

"Please. Children like you shouldn't be out on your own. Did you run away from home?"

"Stop asking us stupid questions!" the child on his shoulder (named Bakanda?) yelled. Charles still hadn't found out if it was a boy or girl.

Charles saw the smaller hooded figure take the hand of the taller one. The taller of the two said, "We did run away from home. There were reasons, but we don't regret doing it."

"You don't?"

"Not for a second."

"I'm sorry for asking this, but are you hungry? I just can't let you go out without feeding you. My wife will cook you something."

"NO!" the small fists continued to pound on his back.

"…Um…sure…"

Charles heard the smallest one speak for the first time. "Can we eat?"

Charles felt the fists lighten up. "Are you sure, Moyashi? Usagi?"

The small figure, which Charles thought was Moyashi, said, "C-can we?"

The other one, Usagi, said, "Well…we do need to eat…I don't really see why not."

"Fine! We'll go with you, old man…but don't you try anything!" Bakanda threatened. "AND PUT ME DOWN DAMN IT!"

Charles finally put down the child. Moyashi hesitated for a second, but ran over to Bakanda. Charles took the lead and led the three of them across the street to his bakery. He took out his key and unlocked the door to let them in. The three children stepped slowly into the bakery, Bakanda watching Charles the whole time.

"Moa! Can you prepare breakfast for three more?" he yelled to his wife.

"Why?"

"We have guests!"

They could hear footsteps coming from behind the counter. A door swung open to reveal a woman with brown hair that fell to midway down her back. She had round glasses and a calm expression. She spotted the three young children and gasped.

"Charles! Who are these three?" She rushed over to Bakanda.

"I don't know. I followed them to the alley opposite here. They won't tell me who they are."

"Well that won't do! Come into the kitchen! I'll feed you!" She rushed into the back.

They looked at each other. "She seems nice!" Moyashi commented in a low voice.

"Sure, that's what she wants you to think." Bakanda retorted in a harsh whisper.

Charles gently pushed past them and held open the revolving door for the children. Bakanda was the first to go, followed by Usagi gently pulling Moyashi. They all filed into the kitchen and upon entering, they were hit by many different smells. Bread, cookies, muffins, eggs, toast, bacon. The three children were confused by all the smells. They could see Moa grabbing three more plates and pilling on the food for the young ones. She set the plates on the table and signalled them over. Usagi was the first to start to advance slowly, while holding Moyashi's trembling hand. Bakanda was still unsure of what to do. Charles left to man the shop.

As the two younger ones came closer, Moa could make out a sense of fear coming from them. Why would they be so afraid of the food? Moa slowly made her way over to them, held out her hand and smiled. Moyashi looked up and looked at her smile. Could they trust her? They had trusted others and look where that got them. He tentatively took her hand and she gently squeezed it. He couldn't help but feel kind of safe when she did that. Not as safe as he felt with Usagi and Bakanda, but safe none the less.

Moa led little Moyashi over to the table and Usagi followed. Moa made a note to try and get their names since her maternal instincts told her that those were not their real names, but names they used when they were referred to. Bakanda stood by the door, still completely unsure of the two adults. The younger ones trusted them, but it would take a while for Bakanda to do so.

Moa sat Moyashi beside her and Usagi took the next seat. Bakanda slowly advanced. Moyashi tentatively took the fork and poked at the food. Picking up a piece of bacon, it slowly disappeared under the hood.

"Mmm! This is yummy!" Moa heard after a few seconds of chewing.

Bakanda had finally taken a seat. "Nothing in it?"

"Nope!" Moyashi took a second piece of bacon and it disappeared under the hood.

That made the other two dig in.

"Um…do you two want to take off your hoods? It must be awkward to eat." Moa kindly suggested to the two smaller ones.

Usagi took a two second break to lower his hood. Moa was surprised to see red hair held back from the face with a shredded greenish headband. Little Usagi also had an eye patch over his right eye.

"Sorry, it's just that we don't really know how to react when adults are nice to us," Usagi admitted.

"Why?"

She could see all three children tense.

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to." She noticed that Moyashi hadn't removed his hood.

"Moyashi, dear, may you remove your hood? Your friends have. Can you?" Moa realized that speaking to Moyashi softly and politely was the best way to communicate.

"They are not my friends. They are my brothers." Moyashi fidgeted.

Moa was surprised. Usagi and Bakanda looked nothing alike. "Really."

"Yes," was the simple and harsh reply from Bakanda.

"Moyashi, It'll be easier to eat!" Usagi said.

"Oh, okay then." Moa watched as Moyashi removed the hood.

She was startled to see a very young boy with dirty, white hair. She then noticed the red scar that rudely interrupted the innocent face. It started under his jaggedly cut bangs and stretched down to the edge of his jaw. She could hardly hold back a gasp as she saw that it looked fresh.

"I'm ugly aren't I?" Moyashi sobbed.

"No, you're not ugly. You just need a bath, a change of clothes and what looks like sleep. All three of you," she said. She noticed that they were all extremely filthy and their jackets were full of holes and tears.

Usagi and Moyashi looked at her in surprise. She had fed them food, and now she was going to make them bath; give them a change of clothes and sleep? Didn't she know who they were? What was the catch?

"Do you mind if I ask what your names are? I don't think they're Moyashi, Usagi and Bakanda." Moa felt like she was probing.

"What do you want to know? We're not staying long, witch."

"Bakanda! She just offered us all that stuff! How can you refuse?" Usagi complained.

"She is just like the woman three weeks ago."

"You don't know that!" Moyashi said.

"Yes, I do baka Moyashi."

"Children, no fighting while at the table," Moa said instinctively.

She saw Moyashi flinch beside her. She looked over and saw fear in his eyes. She felt bad for saying that. She gently leaned over and gave Moyashi a gentle hug. She felt his tense and then relax when he realized that she would not hurt him.

"May I know your names? I'm sorry for being harsh. I just don't like when children fight."

Usagi sensed that she wasn't like any of the other people who had brought them in. "Okay, my name is really Lavi, Moyashi is really Allen and Bakanda is Yu, but call him Kanda."

"LAVI! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" the boy newly named Kanda yelled in anger.

"Because, I don't like being called 'Usagi' by adults any more than you like being called 'Bakanda' at all. I know she's different. If she _was_ like any of the other people who had taken us in, she would have called the police by now. She hasn't has she?"

"She still could."

"But I know she won't."

"How do you know? Did 'bookman' tell you?"

"I just know." Lavi ended the conversation there.

Moa pretended to ignore the spat going on as she now held Allen in her lap. He continued to sob, but this time because his brothers were fighting again.

"How old are you three?" Moa asked. She wanted to know and it would temporarily take Allen's mind off the fight.

"Kanda is 12, Lavi is 10 and I'm 6."

"Why does Kanda not trust me?"

"Kanda doesn't trust anyone who wants to care for us. We've had so many people do it. He thinks he sees a pattern in the behaviour. He can't bring his mind around the idea of having to obey someone. He's really independent."

Moa took in the bits of information. "Can you tell me about you three? Are you really brothers? You three look nothing alike."

"We are brothers. Our mom never stayed anywhere for long." Allen was then interrupted by Kanda.

"She was a prostitute," he said flatly.

Moa looked over at Kanda. "Don't use that language!"

"What, would you rather I say 'she had sex with who ever paid her'?

"I would rather you don't say any of that," Moa said.

"Well, you have to face reality. Not everyone can stay in an intimate relationship like you and Charles have." Lavi looked up from his food.

"Our mother never had time for any of us. She was always out drinking, doing drugs, and having sex. She would leave us in a hotel room with some random person she paid to look after us. She didn't care. She abused Allen and sometimes Lavi. I was the only thing that stopped her from eventually killing them. We ran away about two years ago."

"Kanda, why are _you_ telling me this? I know you don't trust me." Moa was confused.

"Allen and Lavi seem to trust you," was all he said.

Moa was silent and Allen had stopped crying. After a while, Moa lifted Allen off her legs, sat him down in his chair and she stood up.

"Alright, since you three are dirty, I want you to take a bath. Allen will be first, followed by Lavi then Kanda; you can take one on your own when you're ready. Alright?"

"Uh…" Allen hesitated.

"How about me and Allen bathe together? I can wash his hair! I always have!" Lavi said.

"If you really want to, then I guess so. You okay on your own?"

"Yupe! Come on Allen!" Lavi took Allen's hand and they followed Moa up the stairs to the bathroom. Kanda stayed in the kitchen.

Kanda sat there, sort of unsure of what to do. It had a long time since he had let his younger brothers out of his sight. He decided to search the kitchen for anything that he thought Moa and Charles would use against them.

But if he were they, where would they hide the instruments of a child's destruction?

"Alright boys, bath time. Off come your clothes." Moa stood with her hands on her hips.

Allen hesitated again. "Uh…"

"Do you want me to leave?" Moa asked softly.

"I'm sorry." Allen bowed his head.

"No, it's okay Allen. I'll warm up the water and I'll give you two twenty minutes. Is that enough time?"

"Thank you," Allen replied politely.

Lavi nodded.

Moa took a few minutes to make sure the water was warm enough for the boys and she told them not to lock the door in case she needed to help them. They promised not to lock it. She smiled, left and closed the door gently behind her.

If she had been listening at the door, she would have heard, "This time, I know everything will work out. You'll see, Allen. You'll see what a real family is like."

Everything did work out.

For the most part.

**Did you enjoy it? If so, please tell me. I will read all the reviews and I will answer questions if they are asked.**

**If you want a follow up story, please leave a review and tell me what kind. I'm open to suggestions.**


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